


vintage foresight

by Lee_Mix



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 16:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6384667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lee_Mix/pseuds/Lee_Mix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want to show you what you’re missing out on. That you’re forgetting the soul you did manage to raise is able to live on, and is now a loving father of his own.” Marinette didn’t look up from the photograph. “If you had bothered to read any of his letters, you would know that little boy in the photograph is ours, and he is alive.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	vintage foresight

**Author's Note:**

> Been a while since I wrote anything proper for this fandom. Not sure how long this piece will be, but I had a basic idea. Hope you enjoy. ^_^

Once a peacock in a gilded cage, Gabriel Agreste had been reduced to nothing more than an aged pigeon trapped in  barbed wire and self-regret. It was almost pitiful the way he hung his head, refusing to look at her from across the table. 

A pile of letters, untouched, were at the centre. Each one neatly folded. 

“…Why are you here?” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Did _he_ send you?”

To think, she had once looked up to the man for his prowess. Now there was nothing but a shell to be filled with a pointless void of pity. Marinette found her voice, steady and firm. “No, he didn’t. Adrien doesn’t know I’m here.”

“I’ve heard deception can be … troubling, in matrimony.”

Marinette isn’t fazed. She knows it’s nothing more than a defence mechanism for him. To cope with the loss of everything. Refusing to look at the one who destroyed his chances of dooming the world, and saving his wife. 

“Deception, maybe. But not lack of communication. I’ll tell him later.” She pointed over at the letters. “You never read them.”

“I do not deserve to read his words. I nearly destroyed his life. What right do I have to hear about him?”

Marinette flinched. "What _right_ do you have to deny him answers?”

“It has been almost a decade.” He ran a hand through his greying hair and propped up the wire-framed spectacles with his wrinkled finger. “Any answers will have been placated with my punishment. But you have not answered my question. Why are _you_ here?”

Marinette reached into her pocket and pulled out a photograph. Slowly, she slid it in front of him. 

Immediately, he became transfixed. “A… child?”

“Your grandson. Born last year.”

His breathing wavered.

“At first, I didn’t want him to know about you. You hurt him for _so_ many years. Even now, I think he still gets nightmares about how you had your hands around his throat. Even still, Adrien is more forgiving than I am.” A few tears of his splash onto the photograph. “Yet you were a madman who betrayed his wife’s memory by not being able to see the life you had created _together._

You were willing to put him in harm’s way for a _pipe dream._ ”

“…I know.” He croaked. There was no justification anymore.

“You don’t answer Adrien, no matter what he tries. He’s given you so many chances, but you don’t answer. You can’t see that you’re making him suffer _more._  But I want to show you what you’re missing. That you’re forgetting the soul you did manage to raise _is_ able to live on, that his life doesn't revolve around your betrayal, and is now a loving father of his own child.” 

Gabriel Agreste couldn't hide his tears as they covered the sepia-tinted image of her and Adrien’s love. 

Marinette didn’t look up from the photograph. “If you had bothered to read any of his letters, you would know that little boy in the photograph is ours, and he is _alive._ ”

The silence was the escort for her, and Marinette stood up from her chair, grabbing her bag. When she turned to leave, however, something stopped her.

“…What is his name?”

Marinette’s fist tightened as she held onto the back of her chair. “…Felix.”

“That is…” Gabriel leaned back in his chair, and the tears fall from grace. “A wonderful name.”

“All in a name. He’s a wonderful _child._ And I will never deprive him of answers. No matter how hard the questions.”

Marinette paused as she reached the door.

“Hawkmoth died that day, you know. But Gabriel Agreste still has a chance to atone.” Even without the mask, Ladybug's determination filtered through. “Don’t you owe that to your son?”

Marinette didn’t wait for his reaction, and she walked out toward the light.

Alone in the dark, Gabriel Agreste sat in wait for the demons of his past to decide his future path. 


End file.
